


A Fairy and a Knight

by chinchillasinunison



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fae & Fairies, First Meetings, Gen, Knights - Freeform, No Plot/Plotless, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 03:44:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14464275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chinchillasinunison/pseuds/chinchillasinunison
Summary: Just a short play on the concept of Demon!Shane, but as a member of the Fair Folk in a medieval fantasy setting. Ryan is a cowardly, presumably very fresh to the job knight. It's pretty self-explanatory, really.





	A Fairy and a Knight

The fairy had no true idea why he felt so endeared to this human. Really, the whims and actions of the Fair Folk could sometimes baffle themselves even more than they would mortal men. At least for mortals, they could take solace in the fact that fae were innately unknowable to their kind, so they need not lay awake at night wondering why. The fae were the fae, and that was all the reason any human needed. That enigmatic nature was not helpful for the fairy itself, especially when attempting to be introspective.

Perhaps it was the way the human walked through the forest. His body was hunched, his steps wary. He held his sword close to his person, nearly straight in the air, ready to defend. It certainly didn't match the ever courageous glint of a knight’s armor, which this human was partially clad in. However, it did match his expression, the eyes wide with trepidation.

Maybe that was it. Maybe he was amused by the contrast of those elements, the obvious terror with the symbolism of that costume. But really, if that was the case, he didn't see why he felt as though he had to interact with the human, aside from that typical fairy tendency for causing mischief.

He’d been stalking the man behind the cover of wilderness, his rabbit-like forepaws grazing against the trunks of the trees. His gate was easy, gliding through the brush like a gentle breeze. He had the long, slender, powerful legs of a elk that alone stood as high as the human he was trailing, and a massive set of antlers to match. He peered between the branches with five bright yellow eyes, one pair with the normal human placement, one eye in the center of his forehead, and another two on either side of it. He paused a moment, claws hooking into the bark and chipping it away. The human tensed at the sound of the flakes of wood hitting the forest floor, and he turned to the noise, holding his sword out.

“Wh-who’s there?”

The fairy anticipated this course of action, and moved behind the human in a single stride.

“Listen, whatever you are, I… I mean you no harm,” said the man brandishing a sword.

The fae put on layers of glamor as the man stared ahead, one to make him smaller, another to get rid of his mossy fur, just enough to make him look human-- which meant putting on quite a bit of them, actually. Then, slowly, he reached out a paw-- er, hand-- and touched the man on the shoulder.

The swordsman squeaked and swore loudly in fright, jumping a good few inches off the ground. He spun around, swinging his sword out in front of him, just about ready to strike. When he saw what looked like a normal person on the other end of his blade, his stance relaxed a little and the fear on his face dissipated, instead being replaced with annoyance.

“Don’t sneak up on people like that!” he scolded, “I could’ve sliced you in half!”

The other chuckled a little, “I feel like that’s just a _slight_ exaggeration.”

The knight drew his sword to his chest, almost self-consciously. “Well...  I still could’ve stabbed you pretty bad…” he mumbled.

“What are you doing out here in the middle of the woods, anyway?” the man changed the subject, not wanting to dwell on any possible inadequacies.

“I should be asking you the same thing,” the creature replied, “Shouldn't you be, I don't know, escorting a princess or something?”

The knight shook his head, “No, I wasn't assigned that sort of thing.”

He started strolling along, and the fairy followed close behind.

“Then what were you sent this way for?”

The other sighed. “Well, if you must know, I’m something of a beast slayer…”

“A beast slayer?” The creature cracked a bemused grin.

The knight sensed the amusement in the other's tone. “Well, I mean, I haven't slayed any beasts yet, exactly, but it's what I’ve been training for…”

“Training? How?”

“Well, more like… studying… gathering up tales of encounters with the supernatural, to figure out their weaknesses and things, and--” He stopped himself a moment, thinking about just what he was sharing. “What the hell am I even doing? You don’t need to know my life story.”

“I never asked for it, either,” responded the fae, “Continue.”

“Anyways, someone on high recognised my efforts, I suppose, so they sent me out to protect a small village just west of here from... unnatural creatures that are said to haunt these woods.”

Unnatural creatures? From his woods? He wanted to so desperately to laugh at the notion, but saved his breath. He had lived amongst these trees for centuries, since before humankind, and knew their inhabitants like the back of his paw. Never in all his years did an unsavory beast live in his forest, only the natural, respectable sort, like wolves or bears. What sort of forest spirit would he be, anyway, if he let his territory be encroached upon by such animals? Obviously, this human had no idea what he was talking about.

“Really? You think so?” the fairy finally spoke aloud, “Because I’ve passed through here all my life, and I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“You probably weren't looking very hard, then,” responded the knight, “because there's been lots of legends about these woods. A load of unusual things have been spotted out here.”

“Oh, yeah, it's a load alright…” the fae said to himself.

The pair trekked on in silence for a few minutes, then the knight took pause. He turned and looked up at the fairy, for despite the enchantments he placed on himself he was still strangely tall for a human, and asked, “Where are you going, anyway?”

He shrugged, “Oh, I don't know. Here, there, everywhere! Whichever way the wind blows! I guess now it's just blowing in your direction.”

“Alright then… well, since these are dangerous woods, I’ll let you stick around…”

“F-for your own protection, of course!” he added quickly, “Out of a sense of duty and, you know, chivalry and all that.”

He strutted ahead a little bit.

“Ah, yes, it's that, right? Because you're just so chivalrous? Not that you're scared?” the other teased.

“Shut up! I am not scared! I can handle this all by myself, thank you very much!”

“Right, right, of course you can,” the fae nodded, “Watch out for the snake, by the way.”

The man could barely even let out a “What?” before, sure enough, his foot landed on a brown snake that blended in with the path.

“Holy shit!” he yelped as the reptile let out a defensive hiss. He lept into the other “man’s” arms as it slithered away into the underbrush.

“Relax,” said the reluctant cradler in an even tone, “it wasn't venomous.”

The knight looked up and down the other’s body as he realized what he’d done. He smiled sheepishly and lowered himself down.

“Umm, thanks… for that…”

“No problem!”

They continued onward.

“Hey,” asked the knight, “did you tell me your name?”

“No, no I didn't, but that's only because you didn't say yours.”

That was a lie. Not about the man failing to properly introduce himself, that was accurate, but about why he didn't introduce himself either. The fairy was as old as this forest, centuries of his life were spent far before humans and their ideas of names even came to be. His name was in the rustle of leaves, and the chirping of crickets at night time. It was the thumping of a pursued hare’s feet, the pattering of raindrops on a fell log. In truth, he had no practical name, no succinct series of syllables to summarize his entire being. He was simply the fae of these woods.

“Well, if you’d like to know,” said the human, “my name is Sir Ryan.”

“Sir Ryan!” he piped back, “A ‘little king’ and a knight, hmm? What an illustrious career you’ve had!”

“...huh?”

The fairy had heard names as they evolved through the ages, and remembered that meaning as the name’s translation. Perhaps humans didn't keep track of those sorts of things as closely as he believed.

“Nevermind…” he said, looking down at his feet, which felt strange to see in place of hooves.

“And what about you?”

He looked back up. “Hmm?”

“What's your name?”

He pondered a moment a name to give Sir Ryan. The first to cross his mind was John. That was a common human name, wasn't it? Perhaps, then, maybe… too common. He remembered the ways tongues of this region twisted the word, the variations he heard from travelers on this same path. He remembered one spoken as Seán, and then… a peculiar take on that particular form of the name…

“Shane.”

“Alright, Shane,” said Sir Ryan, “pleased to make your acquaintance. I’ll let you tag along with me 'til we get to the village, and you’ll protect m--”

He held his tongue and the creature that dubbed himself Shane smirked at the error.

“And _I’ll_ protect _you_ from any more beasts we may come across. These are dangerous woods to walk around in alone, as they say.”

“‘They’ meaning ‘you,’” Shane informed him.

He turned around and raised an eyebrow, “What?”

“You said ‘these are dangerous woods’ a few minutes ago,” he clarified, “You're repeating yourself.”

Sir Ryan faced forward again, mumbling a half-hearted “Shut up…” under his breath.


End file.
